There was a Civil War reenactment at the DuSable Museum this weekend. I'd seen a few signs and posters about the event around the South Side over the past few weeks, but I didn't make plans to attend even though I'm usually a sucker for history stuff. In truth, I didn't think it would be a good use of my time, since it seemed like it would be more hot and crowded and annoying than educational, so I decided to ignore the whole thing.
And I did ignore it.
Until the moment when I heard the boom from a cannon sometime in the middle of Sunday afternoon. I've never served in the military and (thankfully) never witnessed a battle, so I have no firsthand experience with artillery shells, but the concussion was unmistakable. And quite unnerving, even though I knew the sounds were only the sounds of empty shells put on during a history festival. It wasn't close enough or powerful enough to rattle our windows, but it was definitely loud enough to shake me out of my well-earned nap. And it immediately called to mind the siege of Atlanta portions of GWTW of course (all roads in my mind lead back to GWTW eventually), which--coincidentally--is precisely where I left off in my GWTW recaps.
By the time Chapter 18 opens, the war has come to the outskirts of the city and "Atlanta could hear the sound of battle." Sherman has now pushed the Confederate army all the way back to Kennesaw Mountain, GA, a mere 25 miles from downtown Atlanta according to our friends at Google maps. General Johnston has called for replacements for 10,000 men, and the militia (aka Joe Brown's Pets) are filling the ranks. This particular unit is filled with very old men and very young boys (everyone under 16 and over 60 who wasn't fit for military service, I suppose), and MM masterfully uses their parade through town as an opportunity to give us a glimpse of some of Scarlett's old friends and neighbors who are now marching off to be used as cannon fodder.
Her friends from Atlanta are represented by Grandpa Merriwether and Uncle Henry Hamilton who are both far too old to go anywhere near a battlefield. And then we get a glimpse of Phil Meade and other school boys who are too young to go. Ashley's body servant Mose also comes by on a horse, headed off to war again with Old John Wilkes (Ashley's father) now that Ashley is being held prisoner in Rock! Island! Old John Wilkes brings up the rear, riding Mrs. Tarleton's prized horse Nellie, and I think it's wonderful that MM used such an ingenious placement to 1.) remind us of Mr. Wilkes (and therefore of Ashley), 2.) to remind us of Mrs. Tarleton and her boys, and 3.) to give us a concrete example of just how desperate the Confederacy really has become by this point in the war. Mrs. Tarleton wouldn't have let Nellie go unless it was a life-or-death situation, after all.
We also learn that Gerald would have joined Joe Brown's Pet's and gone off to war if he hadn't fallen off his horse while trying to jump a fence. How's that for foreshadowing???
The Confederates do hold the line up in the mountains for nearly a month according to MM, but then Sherman begins to move again and he swings to the other side of town and captures Decatur--and with it the railroad that connects Atlanta with Augusta. General Hood (Johnston has been replaced) tries to fight back on July 20 during the Battle of Peachtree Creek, but the Confederates lose.
And the men come straggling back into Atlanta, streaming right past Aunt Pitty's house with a variety of injuries. Some of them are just thirsty, but others have bullet wounds and most are bleeding heavily. In the end, Sherman takes over or cuts all the railroad lines out of town except the line heading south past Jonesboro and Tara, and Scarlett is terrified at the prospect of fighting going on around her hometown.
Everybody starts to leave Atlanta next, and Aunt Pittypat goes to Macon. Scarlett wants to send Melly to Macon with Aunt Pittypat so she will be free to run away to Tara, but Melly is too pregnant to travel. So Scarlett has to stay with Melly alone in Atlanta while the battle comes ever closer to their doorstep...
MM pulls off a nice little trick here, doesn't she? I can see that having Scarlett stay in Atlanta to help Melly have her baby was probably a plot point while she was developing this novel, but she doesn't rush into this situation. Yes, Scarlett has already promised Ashley that she would stay with Melly while the latter has her baby, but MM also takes away all of Scarlett's other options slowly but surely. She can't escape anywhere besides south anyway since the railroads are already closed in all the other directions. Except, she can't go south either now, since that railroad is already clogged with all sorts of traffic and there's more than a good chance that the Yankees will capture a fleeing railroad car and put them in prison or whatever. Atlanta is under siege and there are dead men and cannon balls everywhere, and all the normal civilians are getting the heck out of town, and we know that Scarlett and Melly need to leave ASAP.
But they can't.
And it is this tension, the tension between staying and leaving, that drives this part of the novel.
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